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Ranking

4^th in Comic Book Subscriptions

Rating

9.7/10

Price

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What's the Verdict?

A Definite Buy!See Alternatives

DC Review 2020

Item: DC
Rating: 9.7
Author: Jonathan Kerns

Home of internationally known icons such as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, Detective Comics or DC has been in business since 1938, supplying comics to their avid readers. DC is not only a pioneer, but also the largest English-language publisher of comics in the world producing thousands of comic books, graphic novels and magazines each year. If you are a comic book collector, a DC fan or someone just interested in super heroes, you may want to check out what DC's subscription service has to offer. This review will give you a better idea of what kind of service they offer and if it stacks up to the competition.

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Jonathan KernsFebruary 24, 2019

Pros

Physical and Digital: DC offers both a physical comic book and a digital download of each of their comic books to meet the preferences of all readers.
Series Choices: Unlike the big screen or cartoons, DC offers a very wide selection of series to choose from whether about an individual character or a whole group.
Free Content: DC offers customers at least one free digital comic download every month. You can also check out free samples of certain titles.
Billing: DC offers a per issue subscription instead of a monthly one so you can get a specific amount of comic books. Some series do not have a new issue every month so paying a monthly fee is not beneficial in some cases.
Price: Considering they are the biggest name in the comic book industry, DC comics and their subscriptions still come at very affordable prices.

Cons

Titles: You can only get DC comic book titles from a DC subscription, so you would have to check elsewhere for other titles you are interested in.
Shipping: DC comics does not handle the sale of individual physical comic books but rather directs customers to Barnes & Noble who only offers free shipping with a $25 purchase.
Support: DC comics offers very limited customer support options considering they are a globally known company and one of the biggest around.
Payment: DC only accepts major credit cards as their mode of payment and has no facility to process PayPal payments.

Mobile App

Good news to readers who prefer to go with digital comic books instead of physical ones as DC offers a mobile app for Android and iOS powered devices respectively. The app is free on both app marketplaces and allows users to download comic books from the entire DC collection, from legendary classics to weekly offerings.

You can easily browse the different sections on the app to find the titles and series you are most interested in as they are organized by Just Added, Popular, Top Rated and Free comics. You can also just manually go through the different series titles from their reading list.

One minor flaw of the app is that it does not work offline as you need an internet connection to access the files of the comics you have downloaded from the cloud server. Finally, you can use a high-resolution or retina display device to view and read comic books in a better-than-mint condition on your tablet or mobile phone. Nothing can replace the feeling of holding and reading a physical comic book, but getting to bring tons of high quality digital comics in your mobile device everywhere you go is much more convenient.

Pricing and Features

Looking for the right comic book title or subscription is easy with DC as you can browse through the selection they have on their website without much hassle. DC offers both physical and digital comics for customers to purchase individually or through a subscription. Purchasing a title individually gets you a single copy while getting a subscription ensures that you get every successive copy and never miss out.

If you want to purchase the comic individually, you will choose whether you want a physical copy to be sent to you or to download a digital file. If you choose to get a physical copy, you would have to check availability with either Barnes & Noble or Amazon. Pricing for a physical comic book varies but is usually $10+.

If you choose to get an individual digital copy of a comic book then you have to check availability with Amazon, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble, comiXology or Google Books. An individual digital comic usually costs $0.99 each. You can also check out the digital comic collection through the DC website to get your fill of all the digital content they have to offer. Pricing varies depending on the title but is usually under $5 each.

There are 2 subscription options for DC Comic books and one for DC Kids. Comics under the Action Comics, Batman, Batman/Superman, Detective Comics, Justice League and Superman costs $33.99 for 12 issues. Other DC Comics titles such as Aquaman, Batgirl, The Flash, Green Lantern, Teen Titans and many more costs $24.99 for 12 issues. Both DC Comics subscription allow you to save over 30% from the cover price. It should be noted, however, that not every DC Comics publication is available for subscription.

A DC Kids subscription which included titles such as Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo, Teen Titans Go! costs $17.99 for 12 issues. They also have a combo subscription for DC Kids with Scooby-Doo and Teen Titans go comics issued on alternating months.

Overall, DC offers decent subscription options — that is, if you only want to read DC comics. If you are looking for other titles from different publishers, this isn’t for you. But if you are a DC fanatic, then, of course, you will feel right at home.

Customer Support

As mentioned earlier, customer support is very limited for DC as they only offer email support wherein you fill out an online form with your contact details and concern. They also provide the mailing address, contact number and email address of Warner Bros. Entertainment which DC is also a part of. They do not offer any other means of support like FAQs, forums, live chat or other means that is usually offered by some of the other top comic book subscription providers.

What's the Verdict on DC?

A Definite Buy!

DC Review 2020 – Conclusion

If want to get your fix of DC comic books, then go right to the source and check out all the digital and physical comic books they have to offer. You can choose to purchase individual issues or save 30-50% off the cover price when you get a subscription. They also offer a mobile app so you can download and read digital comics at your convenience. They may outsource selling print materials to Barnes & Noble or Amazon, and their customer support is rather lackluster, but DC is the largest comic book company around for good reason. Check them out now to get your collection growing with some of the most popular titles around.